Adrian Horczak
Professor J. Lutton
People of New York
February 12, 2015
Within the first three chapters, Blood Relations describes the history of how Harlem became a place settled by many African Americans and African immigrants. It provides some interesting facts about the differences between the ways black Americans were treated compared with black foreigners. In addition, the book explains how the construction of the Panama Canal affected Negros in American, especially those in New York. Ties between family members in the United States of America and abroad are emphasized throughout the book because they were the main factors that lead to black immigration.
Apparently, Harlem was never imagined as a thriving black neighborhood before the twentieth century since white inhabitants resisted black residence in the area. However, a native-born black real estate broker, Philip A. Payton, began the transformation of Harlem into a community of colored peoples after a white landlord requested he fill up his house with black tenants. Then Payton insisted other landlords do the same. Since many African Americans that were living in downtown Manhattan were forced to move out due to new construction projects and overcrowding, they decided to move to the spacious, previously all white sections of Harlem. Therefore, within a decade (1905-1915), Harlem had become a community with a plethora of colored people from a variety of backgrounds including Jamaican, Antigua, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Panama, and West Africa. Harlem attracted black elite from the entire country and many areas of the world.
The large quantity of black immigrants coming to the country changed the white American’s perception of some black people in New York. The laws requiring separating facilities for white colored people, know as Jim Crow regulations, were strictly enforced at this time, but their enforcement was often neglected when a black person was foreign born. Black Americans had to abide by the regulations, but black immigrants did not and could go to many all white facilities. Black Americans realized that if they learned a foreign language and spoke it with others, they would be better off and some did.
When construction on the Panama Canal was to begin, Americans were sent there to design, dig, and build the features of the canal. At this time, Panama was introduced to the segregation that existed in the United States of America, especially in the areas where work on the canal was being done. White workers had good jobs, wages and housing, while black laborers worked long hours for little pay and lived in poor conditions. In addition, all of these jobs attracted new settlers from the Caribbean. The abundance of men in Panama encouraged some to have their whole families come. However, those from New York usually had established a permanent home, so family visits were temporary. Thus, when work on the canal was complete, many American workers went back.
Harlem in the 1930s changed from the way it was in 1910s. It had grown much more since the first black tenants that came had anchored their lives their and invited their families and other black people to come and live there. Among them, being a black foreigner made them inferior as opposed to the way they used to be viewed. Now they were ridiculed. Still black Americans even if they were educated could not get better jobs and move up the social ladder alongside white Americans because of the color of their skin.
Reading these three chapters has made me realize that there really is no more racism today because, as I stated in the previous statement, people were barred from certain institutions based on their race. However, today that kind of practice is illegal. Thus, opportunities are open to all races, and there is no racism. I do not understand why we have discussed the presence of racism in class if this is so. If indeed there still was racism there would be no black or Hispanic students in specialized high schools, but as we said in class, there are a few who take advantage of the opportunities offered to them.
Moreover, I am perplexed about how the view of black immigrants in America changed so quickly. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, they went from being treated better than black Americans to being jeered at by black Americans.
